The disclosures herein relate generally to protective enclosures and more particularly to a protective enclosure for a door handle retaining assembly.
Storage units such as trailers, portable buildings, sheds and the like are often left unattended at remote locations or locations that are not heavily traveled. Furthermore, such storage units often contain costly items that are easily transported. Accordingly, many storage units are desirable and accessible targets for burglary.
A storage unit generally includes a door latching apparatus for securing one or more doors in a closed position when the door latching apparatus is in a latched position. To prevent entry into the storage unit through the one or more doors, the door latching apparatus generally includes a locking device for enabling a door latching handle to be secured in a door latching position. One common locking device includes a handle retaining assembly capable of retaining the door latching handle in the door latching position and capable of having a lock attached thereto for locking the door latching apparatus in the door latching position.
The use of a lock for locking the door latching apparatus in the door latching position is a deterrent against burglary. However, for the determined thief, the lock and the handle retaining assembly are common points for being defeated to gain unauthorized access to the storage unit through the one or more doors. A thief will often gain unauthorized entry into the storage unit through the one or more doors by suitably cutting the handle retaining assembly of door latching apparatus or by cutting a shank of the lock attached to the handle retaining assembly with a bolt cutter, saw or other capable device.
Therefore a protective enclosure that limits access to a handle retaining assembly of a door latching apparatus and a lock attached to the handle retaining assembly is useful to preventing unauthorized entry into a storage unit through.